It's that time of year again, the annual World Junior Hockey Championships (U-20) are taking place in Leksand and Mora, Sweden from Boxing Day (Tomorrow) until January the 5th. There are two pools, A and B.
In Pool A, the teams are:
Canada (Defending Champions)
USA
Sweden (The Hosts)
Slovakia
Germany
Pool B includes:
Russia (Defending Silver Medalists)
Finland (Defending Bronze medalists)
Czech Republic
Switzerland
Belarus
Let's take a look at Pool A, in-depth style.
Canada:
Team Canada are looking to become back-to-back-to-back champions. However, they havn't won the tournament outside of North America since 1997 in Switzerland. They have some great depth, with 11, that's right 11 of last year's Gold Medal winning team in Vancouver. Vancouver Canucks Prospect Luc Bourdon, Penguins hopeful Kristopher Letang, Nashville's up and coming star Ryan Parent, Medicine Hat Offensive Defenseman, drafted by Columbus, Kris Russell, one of the many Staal family members, a New York Rangers Draft Pick, Marc Staal, Chicago Prospect Danny Bertram, Andrew Cogliano, Hardnose Steve Downie, Ryan O'Marra, Tom Pyatt and Jonathan Toews are the returning members of the team, and must help many new comers, like Cody Franson, and Sam Gagner have a great tournament.
Canada's offence is outstanding, with guys like Bertram, Cogliano, Russell and Downie. And their defence is full of talent like Karl Alzner, and Cody Franson. Their goaltending is lead by Carey Price, and Everett Silvertips Goalie Leland Irving. With these two in net, Canada can't go wrong. All members of Canada's team, I must add, are draft picks of an NHL club, except Karl Alzner and Sam Gagner who are 2007 eligible. Both are shoe-ins to get drafted, and they're projected to be high picks.
If Canada can give Cody Franson and Kris Russell some time on the same defensive pair, the Nashville Predators would sure appreciate it, as both Franson and Russell are Preds Draft Picks. Look for Carey Price to get the majority of time between the pipes, and Kris Russell, Marc Staal, Ryan Parent and Luc Bourdon to be the go-to D-Men. Danny Bertram, Andrew Cogliano, Steve Downie, Jon Toews and Bryan Little are expected to be the most offensive out of the forwards, but watch for Downie to go "Psycho" a couple times like he did back in last year's World Juniors, along with last year's Memorial Cup for Peterborough.
Canada's Player to Watch: Steve Downie can have a great scoring touch, but can also screw around with his teammates and really screw things up for Canada, if sane, he can lead Canada to a great tourny.
Oldest Player: Kenndal McArdle will celebrate his 20th Birthday over in Sweden, January 4th, and hopes to have the day off, because that day includes relegation games only (teams that um... don't do so hot).
Youngest Player: Sam Gagner out of Oakville, Ontario and the London Knights of the OHL, is the son of former Vancouver Canuck Dave Gagner. Sam Gagner, is expected to be a first round NHL Draft pick come June.
Projected Finish: Gold Medal, 1st in Group A
Team USA:
Team USA were the projected winners of last year's tourny, but ended up losing in the bronze medal game to Finland. This year, they're looking for revenge, and will look to guys like Peter Mueller, Jack and Erik Johnson (no relation), and Kyle Okposo.
Jeff Frazee and Jeff Zatkoff are the Goalies for the US of A, and look for Frazee to get the majority of the duties behind the pipe. This Team USA is younger than most other teams, with their youngest player just 17 years old, but with guys like Peter Mueller and Kyle Okposo, they should go far, but the question is, is it far enough?
Player to Watch: Jack Johnson caused quite a stir at last year's tournament, when he nailed some Canadian players pretty hard, and that is his style of hockey. Look for him to raise a few eyebrows for the Swedish crowd.
Oldest Player: Trevor Lewis, a 2006 NHL Draft Pick of the LA Kings, currently playing in Owen Sound, in the OHL, is a well-rounded forward, and look for him to score a few pucks in the net this tourny.
Youngest Player: James vanRiemsdyk is 17 years old, and out of the US Under-18 Program of Hockey. He is NHL Draft Eligible for 2007, but don't expect him to be a back bencher this tournament, he should be one of the most noticeable players on the ice, if ice time comes his way.
Projected Finish: 5th Place, 3rd in Group B
Germany
Not much to tell you on the Germans, except they play a Conservative style of hockey, that can surprise opponents, because they're German, but can also net a few pucks. The Germans have never won the World Junior Tournament, but they have been in the hunt more than a few times, when in the tournament.
I can't tell you much else, because only 3 players on their team play in North America, that means no German languaged websites to read. One of those players is Stefan Langwieder who plays for the Portland Winterhawks in the WHL, in which he has 10 points so far this season. The others are Felix Schutz in the QMJHL and Chris Giebe currently playing for North Iowa in the NAHL.
That's all I can tell you seriously on this team.
Player to Watch: Danijel Kovacic is a 5'8" Goalie, which is um...unusual, so let's hope he plays against Canada on December 29th, so we can see a 5'8" Goalie face guys like Andrew Cogliano and Cody Franson.
Oldest Player: Stefan Langwieder, playing for the Portland Winterhawks is an Offensive D-Man, and should score a couple goals for his country.
Youngest Player: Timo Pielmeier, is a Goalie for the Germans, and no word on whether he'll see some action in the tournament. He is 17 years old, and plays for Nurnberg.
Projected Finish: 9th or 10th Place, 5th Place in Pool A
The Host Swedes
Sweden is hosting the World Juniors for the first time since 2000, when the Czech Republic won against the Russians in a shootout. And surprisingly enough, Sweden is a favourite to win the tournament, or at least win a medal. In net they have 4 Great Goaltenders to choose from, I.E. Jhonas Enroth, Joel Gistedt, Mattias Modig and Johan Thalberg.
On D, they have Niclas Andersen, who plays at the same arena in Leksand, where he'll be participating in the World Juniors, and they brought over 3 Defenseman from Bjorkloven Umea, for your info, those are Alex Hellstrom (Kids don't read this), Patrik Nevalainen and Daniel Rahimi.
Niklas Backstrom, a Washington Capitals draft pick, Nicklas Bergfors, playing for Lowell in the AHL and Fredrik Pettersson playing in Calgary, WHL Style, are the three forwards that stick out the most, and for some, this is the first time Backstrom will play in front of a world-wide audience, where Capitals and NHL Fans can see for themselves someone compared to Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin (he'll even play with him too when he reaches the NHL).
Sweden have the depth and youth to win the tournament, but aren't in easy with the Czechs and Canada strong contenders.
Player to Watch: Niklas Backstrom a First Round Draft Pick of the Washington Capitals now has a chance to show the world his skills, just like Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin have all done.
Oldest Player: Patric Hornqvist was born on New Years Day 1987, making him eligible for the tournament, but had he been born one day earlier, he would no longer be eligible. For Sweden's sake, thank god that Hornqvist was born a day later.
Youngest Player: Jhonas Enroth, the Goalie, is 18 years old, but still the youngest on the team, no word on whether he'll play or not.
Projected Finish: Bronze Medal, Second in Pool A
Slovakia:
Slovakia hold the most players playing in North America, for a European team. There are 14 players on Slovakia's team currently playing in Canada, including 5 alone in the WHL.
Many noticable names are on the team list, like Goalies Jakub Macek and Ondrej Mikula, on Defense, Juraj Valach, Vladimir Mihalik and Martin Grundling. On the offensive side of things you have Vancouver Giants sensation Mario Bliznak, Jakub Rumpel of the Medicine Hat Tigers and Marek Bartanus from the OHL.
Slovakia possesses many great talents, but lack some scoring, so look for them to finish high, but not high enough.
Player to Watch: Mario Bliznak is representing the Slovaks for the first time in the World Junior Tournament, and the Vancouver Canucks Draft Pick knows how to tear apart Defences, including Canada's, which has Bliznak's Junior Teammate Cody Franson, someone Bliznak practises deking out in Practise.
Oldest Player: David Buc from the QMJHL (Rouyn-Noranda) is a 6 foot 2 inch Forward, who isn't offensive, yet not too defensive.
Youngest Player: Juraj Valach from the Tri-City Americans is 17 years old, yet plays like a veteran. Valach knows how to shoot the puck, and defend the goal at the same time.
Projected Finish: 7th in Tournament, 4th in Pool A
That's all for Today, tomorrow I'll post Pool B predictions, tomorrow the Germany and US face off in Leksand to play the first game of the 2007 tournament. 6:00 AM Pacific is the start. That's the same start as the Belarus-Finland Pool B Game in Mora, Sweden. Later on in the day, the Czechs and Russians battle it out in Mora, in a Pool B Matchup. The Canadians also play tomorrow, against the host Swedes, 10:00 AM Pacific time, and the game will be shown live on TSN.
The Spengler cup also starts tomorrow, with a number of former WHLers suiting up for Pat Quinn and the Canadian team, Canada first plays tomorrow check your local listings, as Canada plays Mora IK.
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